Here are Future Development’s top reads of the week, which feature the obituaries of two giants of development and economics, Hans Rosling and Ken Arrow, and the annual letter from Bill and Melinda Gates.

Bill and Melinda Gates published their annual letter, which has become a key reference for the development community. They focus on the decade since Warren Buffet donated $2 billion to the Gates foundation, “the biggest single gift anyone ever gave anybody for anything” and recount development progress since then. A refreshingly positive read in a time of turbulence.

This blog was updated on February 24, 2017 to correct the link to the 2017 Bill and Melinda Gates annual letter.

This blog was first launched in September 2013 by the World Bank in an effort to hold governments more accountable to poor people and offer solutions to the most prominent development challenges. Continuing this goal, Future Development was re-launched in January 2015 at brookings.edu.